Welcome!

I've set up this blog so that all my friends, relations and colleagues in the world of writing can keep up to speed with what I'm doing - from now on, I'll never have to say sorry for not keeping in touch.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Hello writers - have you been busy over the Christmas period, reading and writing? Or have you been slaving over the traditional, iconic hot stoves, changing sheets, washing towels, ferrying children to play dates and other dates, and having hardly a moment to think, let alone write?

The Exeter Novel Prize 2017 closes on 1 January 2018, so there is still time to enter. The first prize of £500 is generously sponsored by Exeter Writers, a long-established, city-based group, and there are lots of runner-up prizes and trophies as well.

Previous winners include now-published novelists Clare Harvey (Simon and Schuster) and Su Bristow (Orenda), and many of the shortlisted and longlisted entrants are now commercially published, too.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

As a novelist, I spend quite a lot of time in the company of imaginary people. So, once in a while, it's good to get out in the real world and meet some real people.

Yesterday was a lovely event at which I met readers and other writers from various locations all over Devon, made some new friends and hopefully found a few new fans, too.

This is a photograph of yesterday's event at the Devon and Exeter Institution, a historic library on the Cathedral Green in Exeter. Its magnificent Georgian roof lantern recently been restored to its former glory and now sheds a mellow light on everyone in the library below. The DEI is well worth a visit. It's a privately owned building but there are many events (like yesterday's) which are open to the public and they're held all year round.

Monday, October 9, 2017

It's autumn, the evenings are getting dark and cold, so what better opportunity could there be to write (or at least to start) that novel that's been buzzing round your head like a mad bee?

The Exeter Novel Prize is an international award which has paved the way to commercial publication for many of its winners and shortlisters and longlisters. Our first and second overall winners - Su Bristow and Clare Harvey - are now doing really well and we are sure they both have long and distinguished literary careers ahead of them.

There are plenty of cash prizes, including the first prize of £500 generously sponsored by Exeter Writers.

So - how about it? You have a few months in which to write, polish and submit those first 10,000 words!

Monday, May 29, 2017

Hello, Daniel! I'm so pleased we could meet up today. What a splendid photograph of you, looking very bookish and authorly!

But now please put your books down, help yourself to cookies and make yourself
comfortable, then we can have a good natter.

Hi Margaret, thank you so much for inviting me. I am super
chuffed to be here.

I loved your book The
Secret Diary of a Naughty Cat. As a cat slave myself, I could identify with
the naughty cat and also with the cat’s own slaves. I hope you won’t mind answering
a few questions for me?

You can ask whatever you would like!

Okay! So - what inspired you to
write your book?

I’ve always wanted to write and have tried my hand at writing
different things. I made the mistake of looking at publisher
callouts/submission calls and trying to write something to fit what they
wanted. But I learned that it is always best to write for yourself first. I
want to write Fantasy and Paranormal Romance at some point, but I have had a
few ideas for children’s books swirling around my head for ages. Plus I have two
naughty cats of my own who have given me plenty of inspiration over the years.

Please tell us a
little about The Secret Diary of a Naughty Cat?

The Secret Diary of a
Naughty Cat is literally about a naughty cat. The idea came from watching
my cats do some very naughty things and I wondered if there was a thought process
behind it. Haha. Were they just daft or being calculating? This is the first
book of a planned series and it focuses on some of the naughty things Naughty
Cat thinks up and acts out on her poor unsuspecting humans.

It’s a fun little book that has had a couple of lovely
reviews so far, and I will be writing further books.

How long did it take
you to write the book?

In all honesty, not really that long. As a starting book it
is only a short one, and I had so much fun writing it so the actual writing of
it happened quite quickly and smoothly. I did plenty of planning beforehand to
work out what I was going to write about and what further books could entail. I
have tried just writing without plans before but I have a short attention span
and can end up writing myself down the wrong road and off a cliff. So a little
bit of planning and note-making helps me keep on track. Well, sometimes.

Your Naughty Cat
clearly despises dogs!Any chance of you
writing a companion volume to the cat’s diary and letting a dog put its own
point of view?

That certainly is something I have thought about for sure,
it’s a known fact that cats look down on dogs as lesser creatures. Haha. I do
have plans for a number of ‘Diary’ inspired books, as well as more animal based
stories.

I have two cats myself so will be introducing a second cat
in a later book of the ‘Naughty Cat’ series for sure. I still have plenty of
inspiration from my two little trouble makers.

How do you plan a
typical writing day – that’s if you ever have such a thing?Do you ever have days off from writing on
which you don’t write anything at all and don’t even think about your
work-in-progress? How do you fit writing into your life?

I don’t really have a typical writing day in the official
sense, I have more of an accidental routine. I either head to my desk in the
morning with the intention to write, but I then have a faff about on social
media, checking emails etc. I give myself plenty of chances to wake up as I am
not a morning person at all.

I have found recently it is best for me to plan a little bit
just to keep me on track and keep focused. I have to write down any idea I get
that looks shiny and exciting, otherwise I forget the one I am currently meant to
be writing.

At the moment, because I’m excited about writing this series
and publishing my first book, it seems to be taking up the majority of my
thoughts. In quite an obsessive manner. I’m quite lucky in that I currently
work in Waterstones in Liverpool which is only part time which works out really
well. It gives me plenty of time to write when not working, and I’m lucky that
I love my job in a fabulous bookstore.

Who are your
favourite/inspirational writers?

When I was growing up I loved Enid Blyton, in particular The
Magic Faraway Tree series, and Naughty Amelia Jane. For Fantasy books I love
V.E. Schwab and Sarah J Maas. For Paranormal Romance I am obsessed with J.R.
Ward.

Please give me some
contact details so readers can get in touch with you?

You can find me onTtwitter and
Instagram with the username @danielriding

Friday, May 26, 2017

Hello, Morton! Welcome to my blog, congratulations on the publication of your debut novel, and thank you for stopping by for a chat.

How
did you come to be taken on by the award-winning independent publisher Choc Lit?

I entered Choc Lit’s Search for a Star competition in 2016 with my novel The Girl on the Beach and unbelievably
I won! The win was made even more special because I’ve had a Choc Lit ribbon (it
was wrapped around a book I won in a giveaway) hanging above my desk for many
years and love the books they publish. It’s a dream come true to be published
by them. My book came out on 24
January 2017.

Tell
me about your novel?

The
Girl on the Beach is a contemporary romantic suspense
novel set in a fictional seaside town.

The initial
spark of inspiration for the story came from a school art competition run by a
friend who owns an art gallery. When I later saw a news headline (I won’t tell
you the subject, because it would be a huge spoiler), the two seemed to merge
in my mind and the theme for the novel was born.

I quickly decided on my heroine, Ellie Golden, who
is an artist with a troubled past and a teenage son, who she is raising on her
own. The hero, Harry Dixon, is a bit of a mystery and provides the question
which the book seeks to answer – Who is Harry Dixon? We meet Harry when he takes
over as headmaster at Ellie’s son’s school.

The book was great fun to write. I wanted my
heroine to be a survivor, sparky with a ‘have a go’ attitude.

Future
ambitions writing-wise?

I have been asked to write a series of books based
in my fictional seaside town of Borteen
and featuring some of my readers' favourite characters from The Girl on the Beach. I also have some aspirations to write
historical novels. I have three in draft set in WW1, the English Civil War and
1066.

I would love to see my books as paperbacks and
maybe audiobooks. As with all authors, it would be lovely to have one of my
stories made into a film one day.

Favourite
five?

Five favourite novels –

Starting Over
by Sue Moorcroft

Star Gazing by
Linda Gillard

North and
South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Eat, Pray,
Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Wintercombe by
Pamela Belle

Five favourite holiday destinations –

Bamburgh,
Northumberland

Grasmere, Lake District

Woolacombe, North Devon

Llandanawg, North Wales

Rome, Italy

Five other favourite things -

Chocolate

Notebooks

Crafts

Researching
family trees

My family

More about The Girl
on the Beach by Morton S. Gray

Who is Harry
Dixon?

When Ellie Golden meets Harry Dixon, she can’t help
but feel she recognises him from somewhere. But when she finally realises who
he is, she can’t believe it – because the man she met on the beach all those
years before wasn’t called Harry Dixon. And, what’s more, that man is dead.

For a woman trying to outrun her troubled past and
protect her son, Harry’s presence is deeply unsettling – and even more
disconcerting than coming face to face with a dead man, is the fact that Harry
seems to have no recollection of ever having met Ellie before. At least that’s
what he says …

But perhaps Harry isn’t the person Ellie should be
worried about. Because there’s a far more dangerous figure from the past
lurking just outside of the new life she has built for herself, biding his
time, just waiting to strike.

Morton lives
with her husband, two sons and Lily, the tiny white dog, in Worcestershire, U.K.

She has been
reading and writing fiction for as long as she can remember, penning her first
attempt at a novel aged fourteen. As with many authors, life got in the way of
writing for many years until she won a short story competition in 2006 and the
spark was well and truly reignited.

She studied
creative writing with the OpenCollege of the Arts and joined the Romantic
Novelists’ New Writers’ Scheme in 2012.

After
being shortlisted in several first chapter competitions, she won the Choc Lit
Publishing Search for a Star competition in 2016 with her contemporary romantic
suspense novel The Girl on the Beach.

Previous
'incarnations' were in committee services, staff development and training.
Morton has a Business Studies degree and is a fully qualified Clinical
Hypnotherapist and Reiki Master. She also has diplomas in Tuina Acupressure
Massage and Energy Field Therapy.

She enjoys
crafts, history and loves tracing family trees. Having a hunger for learning
new things is a bonus for the research behind her books.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

The Exeter Story Prize has fast become one of the major short story competitions in the UK, attracting entries from all over the world and offering great cash prizes as well as trophies to the winners.

The prize incorporates the Trisha Ashley Award for a humorous story, so as the Big Read of the 2017 entries begins we're hoping to have our ribs tickled by a good few of the entries.

Past winners of our competition prizes include Su Bristow, Simon Kettlewell, Richard Buxton and Clare Harvey, whose fabulous novels you can find on Amazon and elsewhere. We know we're going to discover lots of fresh new talent this month and next. So we're very excited!

Monday, April 24, 2017

Did you ever make a mistake? A really big, disastrous mistake, followed by a whole series of disastrous mistakes? Lily Denham did.I'm delighted to tell you that my lovely publisher Choc Lit has produced an ebook version of my latest novel Girl in Red Velvet, in which after many setbacks and challenges Lily finally gets to live the life she knew was right for her all along. Or so she hopes! She won't know for certain until the very last page. Lily might be emotionally confused but she is also ambitious and smart and she becomes a successful businesswoman, which goes some way towards compensatingfor consistently messing up her private life.

Lily is the granddaughter of Rose Courtenay, the heroine of The Silver Locket, the first novel in my series about the Denham family. Just like Rose, Lily finds she is perfectly capable of making a whole series of wrong decisions and bad choices before she ends up in the place she wants and deserves to be. As for the men in her life - there are two of them, Harry Gale and Max Farley, who look very similar but who are completely different in character. Harry is studious, hard-working, ambitious, generous and kind. Max is adventurous, unpredictable and a little bit dangerous, too. So when Lily realises she is falling for both of them, she also realises she's in trouble.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Do you have a novel ready to pitch to a publisher? Do you love reading? Do you like to meet authors face to face? Choc Lit, a multi-award-winning publisher of commercial fiction in a wide range of genres with a fan base consisting mainly (but by no means exclusively) of women is going on tour this year, visiting many UK libraries and hoping to meet lots of readers and writers.

The first stop on the tour is Exeter Central Library of 8th April, where editors and authors (including Linda Mitchelmore, Victoria Cornwall, Evonne Wareham and I) will be talking about our work and inviting questions from the audience.

It should be a fun event with plenty of opportunities for audience participation. There will be prizes and presents and of course chocolate to take home.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Today, it's a great pleasure for me to chat to Victoria Cornwall, whose first historical novel for Choc Lit is published this month.

Thank you, Margaret, for having me on your blog today.

You're very welcome, Victoria. Do have a chocolate cookie and a cappuccino! Now - remind me how we first met?

That was in early 2015 when I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association. At the
time, I was pursuing my dream of signing with a traditional publisher. Luckily, I
signed with the award-winning publisher of women’s fiction, Choc Lit, the
following year. Not bad for someone who was not able to take English Literature
as a subject in school.

It's not bad at all! What were you doing before you became a novelist?

Up to this point, my life had been very different. I grew up
on a farm in Cornwall and my childhood
was filled with chickens, cows, orphaned lambs, cats, dogs and an albino rabbit
named Benjamin.

At 17, I headed for the big city, trained as a nurse and returned
to Cornwall to spend the next 20
years nursing. The role held great responsibility, but it was also very
humbling to witness ordinary people showing great courage in traumatic or
difficult situations. It certainly gives one a new perspective on life.

What sparked your interest in writing fiction?

A change of career finally allowed me the time to write, something
I had always wanted to do. I wrote in secret and didn’t tell my extended family
until much later. By then I had self-published two novels and they had both
been nominated by InD’tale magazine for the RONE Indie
and Small Published Book Award, U.S.A.
I was also fortunate to be short-listed for the New Talent Award at the Festival of Romantic Fiction, 2014, U.K.
I came to realise that I didn’t need to pass an exam in English Literature in order to tell a
good yarn.

Who or what inspires your writing?

I guess all writers draw on their experiences of life. For
me it’s my experience of Cornish rural life, witnessing the emotions and
reactions of ordinary people to extraordinary events, and I'm also inspired by my love of history and
romantic fiction.

Tell us a little about The Thief's Daughter?

My third book, The Thief’s Daughter, is my debut novel with
Choc Lit and my first traditionally published book. It is set in 18th century Cornwall,
when England is
crippled by debt and poverty and smuggling prospers. Jenna has been brought up
in a family of thieves; however, after being terrified by a thief-taker’s
warning as a child, she has resolved to be good. After being saved from a
brutal marriage by her brother, Silas, she finds herself a widow who owes him
her life. So when Silas asks her to pay his creditors and secure his freedom
from the debtor’s prison, Jenna feels unable to refuse and finds herself
entering the secretive and dangerous world of the smuggling trade.

Jack Penhale has spent years hunting down the smuggling gangs who plague Cornwall
in revenge for his father’s death. Drawn to Jenna at a hiring fayre, they soon discover
that their lives are more entangled than they first thought. As the line
between housekeeper and employer becomes blurred, love and loyalty are tested
to the limit, while her blood tie tries to tears them apart.

The Thief’s Daughter is about divided loyalties, family ties
and love, but for me it represents so much more. It is a goal achieved and a dream
come true.

Margaret James The Silver Locket

Margaret James Elegy for a Queen Kindle Edition

About Me

I'm a novelist, journalist and teacher of creative writing for the London School of Journalism. I've written fifteen published novels and lots of short stories, one of which was published in the RNA's Golden Anniversary anthology, Loves Me, Loves Me Not - am very proud of that!